


between the dim and the dark

by la_victorienne



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-11
Updated: 2009-01-11
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_victorienne/pseuds/la_victorienne
Summary: jack is taking ianto on a date.





	

Ianto looks down at the mug in his hands and grimaces at the confection adorning it, looking up at Jack with such an expression of utter distaste on his face that Jack dissolves into veritable _hoots_ of laughter. Delicately, Ianto removes the protruding cinnamon sticks and uses them to sweep the mound of whipped cream aside, leaving a still unidentifiable beverage in the plain white mug. He tosses the sticks and the cream into the nearby bin.

“Thank you,” he says quietly, the mug warming his hands even through his gloves, “though I’m not sure what it is.”

“It’s hot chocolate,” Jack replies, his boisterous voice seemingly out of place even in the bustling street, loud to Ianto’s ears. “I got it from the shop round the corner, I thought you might like it. And I knew you’d complain if I got you coffee.” Ianto smiles wryly.

“You’re right,” he murmurs. “Their coffee is complete shit – better than yours, though. I appreciate the thought.” Jack laughs comfortably and lays a warm hand on Ianto’s neck, drawing him in for a kiss. It’s casual, completely without ambition or direction, and Ianto feels himself falling into the darling innocence of it all. Taken out for lunch from the chips shop, bought a cup of hot chocolate, kissed on a park bench – it seems a little out of character for the ever emotionally unavailable Captain Jack, but right in character for the man Ianto is learning to know.

This man, this lovely and surprising man in the Captain’s shoes and braces and coat, is compassionate and kind, clever and gracious. He takes Ianto out for lunch and dinner, stays the entire night (even if he reads _War and Peace_ with a high-tech LED book light for most of it), and touches him comfortably on the shoulder every time he passes by. He’s a completely different person since he locked Tosh away, closed that freezer door, ended a chapter of his life – and Ianto is learning to love that person, which scares the ever-living daylight out of him.

And yet, somehow, it’s worth it.

He scoots a little closer on the bench, lets Jack wrap an arm around him, a display of affection that he knows Jack enjoys for its simplicity. It’s all he knows to give to the man he would die for in this maddening world: the knowledge that above all things, Jack is loved. It is what he needs, and it is why he is changing – for Ianto, for Gwen, for the entire world. 


End file.
